Stay Beautiful
by P. Fishies
Summary: Here was the reality: the boy in front of her was a dream she was never meant to hold for real. No matter how long she waited for him, once he was on that plane... he was gone. OTHER PFishie's first chapter story!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: (I'm only doing one should this run into chapters). I DO NOT own DN Angel. I don't even read them. MEGA GASP

What can I say? My sister's stuff inspires me.

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-----.Prologue.-----

8,133 miles seemed so much more gaping when in mere hours, the most important thing in a girl's life would be exactly that far away, without even a clue of whether it'd ever return. She felt like a fool standing there, trying to avoid the sharp blue eyes in which she'd come to find a certain warmth, a sort of prickly in their surface that normally seemed so cold, that appeared every time she'd dare let their eyes meet. Stupid her. She'd let herself fall for those immovable blue eyes…

"Harada-san?" Suddenly she was back in the present. She offered the boy in front of her an apologetic smile, stifling her impending gloom in desperate attempts to seem like she was quite okay with his leaving.

"Oh, I'm fine, sorry, I dazed out there." She laughed nervously.

The boy cocked his head at her, making his slightly-unkempt, sapphire-blue bangs slide from his brow to rest more sideways on his face. "You look like you're thinking pretty hard about something or other."

"Nah I'm just…" What was she? What could she tell him? That she was desperate and didn't want him to leave? That she wasn't quite sure exactly how her day was supposed to function without his quiet presence, reminding her that though he could offer little more than a good listening ear, he was still around whenever she needed him? He had always been her run-to, whether he'd realized it or not; it was true neither of them ever outwardly recognized when they needed the other, they just had their own subtle ways on leaning on the other. Of course, he did so very little, but she didn't miss the few occasions he just took advantage of her company to allow himself a quick breath. People always said she was the only one who could make him stop and breathe, even if it was only for an instant before he was off analyzing the next thing, using that incredible cleverness and intelligence he was so acclaimed for to solve a problem before it formed. And despite what anyone said, she knew she saw something other than coldness in his eyes, whether it was loathing or anger or even something she'd never dared dream she saw… it was something. He wasn't completely cold to emotion, though he tried very hard and 97 of the time, he did succeed marvelously. Now, though…

Now she was ready to break down right in front of him, and him watching… she was falling apart, but she couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes. She was too afraid… too afraid she was alone in fighting the emotion, afraid what she was feeling wasn't being reflected at all in him… that he felt nothing about her that could surface even in this moment… this last, precious moment…

"This is the boarding call for flight UA493 to New York. All passengers holding a ticket to flight UA493 to New York, please make your way to gate 87 now."

A shiver rippled down her spine as she realized it was time; the good-bye she'd been dreading was finally here. One of the hardest things she knew she'd ever have to do she had to do now… and she had to hide it.

The boy sitting beside her in the waiting area shifted his eyes upwards to listen to the announcement, then he let them fall on her. She continued to gaze at the speaker, not knowing where else it was safe to let her eyes rest. The boy eyed her. "I guess it's time I board."

She let her eyes drop to her hands. "I suppose."

He looked at his own, then at the open gates leading to the walkway onto the enormous passenger jet. Then he reached for his bag.

A cold twist in her stomach pulsed her reflexes and suddenly she blurted, "I-don't-suppose-you're-coming-back." She said it so fast she wasn't sure he'd heard her. She shuddered at the idea of having to repeat it.

He looked at her, then at no place in particular on the floor and shrugged. "I don't know… after college… maybe sometime." He looked around the bustling airport, at the thousands of people streaking with heels on fire towards gates, dallying by a store, buying a pretzel… She couldn't sit still now, her own resolve failing her. Suddenly he let out a sound that seemed like a cross between a bitter chuckle and a snort. "Not like this god-forsaken place wants me back anyway."

Her eyes shot up to finally lay again on him. "Of course they do!"

He lifted his bag up onto his shoulder as he stood up, shaking his head. "No they don't." _He_ was avoiding _her_ eyes now, gazing around him through his thick-rimmed glasses. "I think this place has had about enough of me."

"But they haven't!" She exclaimed, standing with him. "Can't you see?" She wanted to continue, but her ability to articulate was being choked now. She was forced to let the sentence drop, as she stood there, posed for protest, without knowing what to say.

His eyes shifted to her, but now hers were on her feet. He gazed at her expectantly. "See what?"

Now she had to find something to say anyway. She shrugged one shoulder extensively, glancing wildly around like it might give her something to say. Instead, she had to blurt the only thing that her mind at that point could produce to reply, "You're beautiful."

He took a long time absorbing that, blinking furiously at her like she'd just said something absurd. "I'm what?" he asked.

Wow. She'd actually dumbfounded him. This was new. She might have enjoyed this were she not now faced with the obstacle of finding an explanation for her blunt statement. "You're… you're beautiful. Not like physically… not you're not good looking… oh god…"

She was failing miserably. She took a deep breath, willing the bright crimson color in her face to drain. "You're beautiful in every way…" She finally murmured. "Every little piece about you… You know…"

She let her voice drift, gazing at a spot on the floor, then shook her head slowly. "You're really going to go far. You're the brightest person your age in all Tokyo, I swear, ask anyone." She shifted her eyes to the glowing signs above the stands. "You could be anything and anyone you want… and now you're going to a place with the leg room to do that." He looked away from her just as she finally let her eyes fall on him. "You're really gonna be someone. And… well…"

He finally looked up at her now, and their eyes met. Suddenly it was like her heart was a balking plow horse, suddenly refusing to work one more ounce. His eyes… they weren't cold. There was something in them, something other than total apathy to anything anyone around him ever said. The emotion stayed there, too, he wasn't masking it. The weight of realized eased itself upon her shoulders: the reality that reminded to her, the boy in front of her was a dream she was never meant to hold for real, never meant to see come true. No matter how long she waited for him, once he was on that plane… he was gone. The country he was headed to held more for him than he ever saw awaiting him in his current one, and without reason to come back, it wasn't likely he'd spend the hundreds of dollars on another plane ticket. His trip was a one-way. She gazed into his piercing blue eyes and felt her desperation melt away. There was no convincing him to come back. What she said now, it was his choice whether it'd stay with him. And she had to make that choice an easy one. She took a final deep breath.

"Just don't forget us, okay?" A flicker of surprise appeared, maybe even a hint of confusion. Was she better at reading those eyes than she knew? "Go. Fight the odds and chase your dreams and all that, just… when you find everything you're looking for…" She sighed. "Just don't forget us."

"This is the final boarding call for flight UA493 to New York. All passengers holding a ticket to flight UA493 to New York, please make your way to gate 87 now."

His eyes finally lifted to hers, and their eyes met one last time. She swallowed hard. "Don't forget me." He couldn't seem to find anything to say. Instead, he slowly started backing away towards the gate. She held his gaze with a stubbornness, wishing he'd just throw his suitcase aside and forget the whole idea of going to America. But he couldn't. He wouldn't not now. He did take his time turning around, though.

She wrung her hands in and out, wishing their gaze would never break. Finally it came to the point the couldn't keep backing up without turning around, and just before he could, she finally called out, "And stay beautiful!"

With that, their gaze broke and he hurried onto the plane, without a single word of reply.

And all of a sudden, just like that… he was gone.

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Comments? Anyone, anybody? Lol I did try not to make it TOO long, but thats one thing different about me and my sister-- I tend to talk a LOT in my stuff. anyway. Hope you're liking it!


	2. Questions

-1**Chapter One**

"Two dollars."

Satoshi Hiwatari glanced out the car window and squinted at the young attendant within the shadowed confines of the tollbooth. She was holding a perfectly-manicured hand to her forehead to shade her eyes against the morning sunrise on Satoshi's other side. As her face finally registered, he silently cursed to himself when he realized she had brown eyes. The familiar feeling of being sucked into the past came over him, and he was suddenly watching those soft brown eyes he knew so well laughing at him once again, sparkling with a happiness he had never known anyone but her to have. Forcing himself back to the present, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and dug into his wallet, handing the girl in the tollbooth a five.

It wasn't as if he had asked to fall in love. He hadn't even wanted it, much less expected it. He had hardly even known her when she first started talking to him, which was a wonder seeing as he was the only boy in school who _hadn't_ made it a point to memorize her features and pursue her like a hound on a fox. He'd actually been attempting to push her away, for that matter... and for quite some time. He had even once told her to get lost, but instead of being hurt, she had merely cocked her head at him and said, "Why are you always bitter like that, Hiwatari-kun? You never let anyone be nice to you." He hadn't known how to reply to that; his father would have been ashamed of him for his hesitance.

A shadowed scowl came over his face at the thought of his father: the reason he was here, in America. He knew he was running, and knew very well he couldn't do so for long, as sure as he knew he couldn't very well turn back time, either. He would run across an ocean if it meant removing his father from his life. He took his change from the attendant and was back to cruising at 70 miles per hour within seconds.

When had he first realized he loved her? The first time he looked into those glorious brown eyes and realized he never wanted to look away? When had he first tapped her shoulder, touched her arm, to realize his typical resentment of physical contact had become nonexistent around her? When had he first replied to her, wanted to hear her voice respond, to listen to that sweet, happy voice talk to him? When had he realized that without her there, jabbering on to him about school, her family, the weather, he would be on the verge of clinical depression?

When had he realized she was the only one who could make him want to smile, want to laugh, want to love life as she did? When had his heart first started to flutter whenever she was around? When had he started to care so much about what she was saying, what she was doing? When had he realized she was the only one he wanted to touch, to hold, to run his fingers through her shimmering brown hair?

Shaking his head so violently that his glasses slid, Satoshi tried to remove the emotions from his mind. He fixed his glasses and pushed the old Jetta to 78.

But he couldn't shake the image of those deep brown eyes from his head. He returned again to that moment in his past when he had tried so hard to push her away. She was right, he wouldn't let anyone be kind to him. He had always been taught that kindness was a weakness, and he could never be weak. He could never let others close; that would be a vulnerability. Besides, who was he to accept kindness when he never even deserved it?

But she had simply gazed at him when he didn't reply, waiting patiently for him to respond. When he didn't, she had shrugged, and flashed him a brilliant smile, one he had wanted to watch for the rest of his life. He would never forget what she had said then. "Well, Hiwatari-kun, I don't care if you don't want me to be kind to you. I'm going to keep being kind, and I'm going to keep talking to you until you talk to me, too. Because I don't want you to be lonely, Hiwatari-kun."

It was more than anything anyone had ever done for him, her talking to him so persistently. And she had done it because she didn't want him to be lonely. As if she actually cared that he was always choosing to be alone…

But there was so much weakness in love. And his father could practically smell weakness. Satoshi had thought he could hide it from him, but he could only put off the inevitable until just after Dark disappeared and Krad with him. It was the first time he felt the freedom of being able to react to her. He had sat with her that day trying to calm her down as she mourned the loss of Dark's apparent presence. And though it had nearly killed him to do it, he had sat there with her for hours. It was then it truly hit he that he was free.

Well, from Krad at least.

His father had smelled the weakness as soon as he stepped in the door that day. He had masked the emotions, closed the gap in his façade that had been opened at the sight of her crying. But he had still pounced upon him the minute he saw Satoshi. He was weakened, he snarled, he reeked of vulnerability. He never even asked what it was. Even though Krad was gone, even though Dark was no longer at large, even though keeping his emotions under control was no longer a matter of life or death, he had scorned him as if the disappearance of Dark and Krad made no difference. How ignorant he was, his father had sniggered. If Satoshi didn't knock that weakness out of him, he would personally remove it himself.

Like every other time he had been accused of yielding to emotion, Satoshi stood and took the criticism stiffly, numb to his sharp comments on his disgraceful behavior. He would have been dismissed in such dignity, too, but he had underestimated his father once again. The monster had turned to him, and intelligent glint in his cold eye, and he sneered, "Really, Satoshi, all this drama over a common, shallow high school slut."

His entire frame had stiffened, and he could remember the explosion in his mind that made his want to scream in reply. His eyes had flashed, he had not had time to mask his reaction; it was all he could do to keep from shouting back at him. He stiffly, lividly replied before he could realize what he was saying, "I love her."

He remembered the moment of shocked silence, those long, torturous instants where both he and his father slowly realized exactly what he had just said. Then he remembered a brief moment to brace himself before the attack. He could remember little of what was actually said, just the anger, the pure rage in his father's voice, face, and words. But first, before anything else was said, he had stormed up to him, raised his fist, and struck Satoshi across the face.

Satoshi absently touched the now healed and invisible cut on his cheek, trying hard to focus on the road.

He remembered little of what happened after that. Just that his father's rage at Satoshi's soft statement was never-ending. He stormed and raged and yelled until his face was blue, but he never let up. It had taken Satoshi fifteen minutes and three blows to the face to realize he needed to get out. He had barely managed to escape the room and make it to his own, his left cheek bleeding from the cut in the middle of his cheekbone. Whatever he did now, he couldn't stay there.

So he had run.

Of course, he hadn't known word would spread so quickly that he was leaving, and that it would reach her in time for her to actually look up where he was flying and intercept him at the airport. Of course, he only partially welcomed the surprise; he'd been in the process of comprehending the idea of leaving her behind still and her being there was only a reminder of what he was losing. But… it hadn't wavered her. She had still smiled, running up to him, breathless and stammering over how she had run faster than she knew how to in order to catch the train to the airport. Then she saw the cut and gasped in horror. Of course she wanted to know what had happened, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her. He dismissed it, pushed it aside as he had pushed away her concern for months past. Hatred seared in him, not just for his father and the situation he was in, but for himself. She was everything he ever wanted, she made him feel more free than he had ever imagined possible for a single human being. And he'd left her behind, turned away from her, standing there helpless in the airport, without saying so much as a goodbye.

He was possibly the most vile being to walk the earth for what he was doing to her, after all, he never deserved her kindness in the first place, and still he acted like it was his to shove aside. Still she stood there, his friend until their very last glance, asking him to stay, just wishing him a better life wherever he was going, and to remember her when he got there. Her words still rang like apparitions in his mind.

_You're beautiful… Every little piece about you…_

He closed his eyes for a brief second, her face still unmistakably clear in his mind's eye, those satin tumbles of brown waves, the beauty of which could only be rivaled by her rich, chocolate brown eyes. He suddenly felt the heartbrake he had been fighting begin to slip beneath his defenses as he watched her laughing, her voice so full, then saw her fade slowly behind him, the distance between them growing with every minute…

A car honked loudly, and Satoshi opened his eyes, swerving just in time to hear an older male ranting profanities out of his car window. Satoshi ignored him.

Where he would go, what he would do when he got to his destination, he had not the slightest idea, but he could not stay there. Not when he had so defied his father and was in otherwise physical danger staying there. He wished he had just been able to slip away unnoticed, no goodbyes, not even to the three people who would actually care that he was leaving. He wanted to leave without pain, leaving the memories and the hurt he refused to feel behind. His last encounter with her confirmed it. He could never see any of them again, he decided. He could never call, send an e-mail, write a letter… they all had to disappear from his life the same way he had to disappear from theirs. Even though it meant leaving the only one he'd ever loved.

_Don't forget me…_

She, too, had to become a distant memory, even if it tortured him from the inside out to leave her as that.

_You're beautiful…_

He had never deserved to find her in her first place, nor experience the love he did for her. Like the beast inside, he was the one who'd left her behind without a good-bye, a promise to visit, or even to keep in touch, just a rigid, unfeeling look as he backed away from her…

_Stay beautiful_.

Satoshi Hiwatari was in love with Risa Harada, and if it killed him doing so he would fall out of love with her.


	3. A Change in Plans

-1**..Chapter Two..**

The hallways of the senior high school were plastered with posters counting down the days until the seniors would finally graduate, the celebration having long begun starting at 60 days. Everywhere she looked it was festivity; yearbooks being traipsed across the school to every homeroom as proactive members of the student body tracked down every friend on their list to make arrangements for Senior Week. People were entering deposits to their chosen college and wrapping up expenses from prom, carrying around piles of pictures from the event to show all their friends. The sign in the cafeteria read "Congrats, Graduates!" and the same atmosphere was reflected on every face of every senior who had waited 4 years for the moment coming in a matter of 4 days. Class homework was a far memory, every teacher aware that no senior would bother now. The rest of their life awaited on the other side of that wall that would lift again for the 400-member senior class on May 31st.

But try as she might, despite the posters and the arrangements to spend Senior Week camping with friends, Risa Harada was still less than enthusiastic about the world beyond high school. For beyond high school it wasn't a whole new life she saw, it was the same one in a different setting, and instead of seeing the millions of faces she'd meet in future events as an adult, she saw only one. The one that had left her alone in an airport without an articulate thought, the one that turned away despite the expression she was sure she'd seen him fighting. And it was the one face she was sure she would never see again.

"Risa!"

At the sound of her came, her thoughts coming to a crashing halt as Hiroko Kokimi rushed up to her, out of breath. Risa turned to her friend, moving the locker door out of the way so she could see her face. Hiroko caught her breath and shook her head at her. "Geez, Risa, where the devil is your mind today? I've been screaming your name all down the hallway, I think the freshmen were scared."

"Sorry, Riko," Risa ran a hand through her hair absently. "I'm not with it today. What's up?"

"You know, it's not like you to be so pensive, especially since it's kinda the last week of our high school career."

Risa shrugged, plastering on a bright, signature smile. "I guess it's finals. Something like that, I don't know myself frankly. You got news on Senior Week?"

Riko's face lit up. "Yes! Actually, Sumi told me she found the greatest price on a beach house! A real beach house, not the cabin we were going to rent!"

"A beach house?" Risa cocked her head. "I thought we were going hiking."

"I know." Riko wrinkled her nose. "But Sumi said since a lit of girls can't make it anyway, she figured a beach house would be just as cheap with the number of people we're sitting with. And we still have about 6 confirmed, so it'll still be a blast!"

"Okay," Risa smiled, not at all opposed to the idea of spending senior week spying guys on the boardwalk with her friends and laying on a beach next to a beautiful ocean. With that vision she asked, "So where's the house?"

Her face was brighter than before. "Oh, that's the best part! You're not going to _believe_ this!"

"Where is it?" Risa smiled, thrilled by her friend's enthusiasm.

Riko was beside herself. "It's at a place called Rehoboth Beach in the state of Delaware. Do you know what that means, Risa? That means the United States of _America_!"

Risa blinked once, but instead of staring back at her friend she found herself gazing into those immovable blue eyes, watching them as they slowly backed away, forever leaving her for a new life...

"Risa?"

Risa blinked again, and that untouchably blank face was gone. Once again she was staring at her good friend, who had one eyebrow peaked. She quickly shook her head to clear her mind, then smiled again. "Sorry." She brushed the momentary vision quickly aside. _Come on, Risa, suck it up. It was two years ago, for goodness' sake…_

"Risa, you okay?" Riko asked, finally noticing that something was off. "You went kind of pale for a second."

"Nah, I'm fine." Risa said, shivering a bit at the memory. "America sounds amazing. What's the deposit going to be?"

"They said its like 130 U.S. dollars each, which is what, 15,000 yen?" Riko was still surveying her, thrown off by the unexpected reaction.

Risa nodded, considering. "Yeah, I have that much saved. That sounds great, Riko, sign me up."

"You got it, Risa." Riko winked as she turned to go, but she paused, eyeing her friend. She rested her books on her hip. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." Risa nodded, trying to sound reassuring. "Just thinking about the little things, you know, like I always do."

"Okay," Riko, started turning away again, then made a sound like she'd just remembered something. "Oh!" She pointed a finger. "Do you still have your passport from that class trip to Spain?"

Risa thought a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it's on my bookshelf."

"Good. You'll need it. Security in America is really tight after that thing with the planes a while back."

"The 9-11 terrorist attacks?"

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, we have to have vaccinations and background checks and a bunch of other crap I've never even heard of... anyway I'll keep you posted on when and where all that stuff is, okay?"

Risa rolled her eyes at her friend's apathy. "Sure thing, Riko."

"It's going to be a blast, Risa!" With that she started in the other direction.

Risa's smile only wavered slightly as the memory of those incredible blue eyes replayed over and over in her head. "Definitely." She turned to push the books into her locker, glaring at herself in her magnetic mirror and willing the sorrowful clouds behind her eyes to hinder themselves from surfacing. "Definitely." She told herself sternly, then closed the locker to stride off towards the parking lot.

**A/N**: Okay, I'm REALLY sorry if the whole 9/11 thing insulted ANYONE-- it's not meant to be an insult or a disrespect to anyone who was touched by the attacks, it was merely meant to reflect on the fact that people in other countries don't really like us. Seriously, no harm meant.

So... it's really hard for me to know whether this story is worth continuing without having at least SOME feedback. So... comments please!!


	4. This is different

**A/N: **Not too much to say. Just that comments are mucb appreciated! Thanks SO much to everyone who's reviewed!

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**..Chapter Three..**

Risa took a deep breath and pushed open the door to their beach house, stepping inside and looking around. Her jaw dropped and her eyes buged such that she was sure they'd free themselves from their sockets.

Well, this was different.

"Whhooaaaa," Hiroko stepped in behind her, her jaw dropping. One by one, the other 4 girls in their party, still wound up from their rather wildly-excited drive from the airport (apparently jet lag had nothing on this particular group of 6 adolescent teenagers), stepped into the entryway of the fully-furnished, two-story beach house. All six energy-pumped faces swept up and around the massive living space, over the cozy living room chairs before the flat-screen TV, and across the kitchen area equipped with a breakfast bar and Lazy Susan Carousel on the sturdy wood table. Altogether their jaws dropped, then they took turns exchanged looks of disbelief with each other. Finally Sumiko, who had been the coordinator of affairs for their entire grand adventure, uttered a stifled scream of delight and dashed, dark hair flying, to the huge, rose-colored couch, flopping down on it like a sack of potatoes.

With that the girls surged forward with all the pent-up energy they had saved while packed in the rental van (which they had picked up at the rental business at the airport) driving in from the Baltimore Airport. Sadayo and Kairi, raced each other to the back bedroom while Riko rushed after Sumi, dive-bombing onto the couch on top of her and making her scream. Meanwhile, Risa was left standing in the doorway just drinking it all in. Finally, Risa's twin sister and best friend, Riku, stepped up beside her, grinning.

"Not bad, huh, sis?" She smiled, winking at her. "I guess Sumi really came through."

Risa returned her smile, blinking from her dazed surprise, then elbowed her in the side. "You're just smug because now you're right down the street from your boyfriend."

"That _is_ a plus." She admitted as Risa burst into giggles. "But _nonetheless_, this is a 'pretty sweet crib'."

Risa eyed her as her eyebrows shot into her hairline. "'Sweet crib'?"

Riku winked at her again. "I've been brushing up on American lingo."

"A 'pretty sweet crib'?" Risa repeated the English-spoken words again, this time with twice the disbelief. "What exactly does that mean, anyway?"

Riku translated the expression as best she could into the Japanese equivalent. Risa spent the next 90 seconds doubled over in laughter.

"Riku?"

"Yep?"

"You're a loser."

"Duly noted, sister." Riku flashed her a proud grin.

"Hey, people, listen up!" Cried Sumi at last. Sadayo and Kairi emerged from the bedrooms and Risa and Riku both turned their attention back to the living room. Of course, this welcomed a fresh bout of giggles as Sumi had jumped onto Riko's back in the time it'd taken the excitement to settle down. "Okay," Sumi said from Riko's back. "The house is big enough everyone can have comfortable leisure time, though I think we've all determined this." They exchanged knowing looks with one another, not one ashamed of their sugar-pumped immaturity. "Now there are only 3 beds in the house, but each one has a queen-sized bed, which means 2 people per room and we fit comfortably. So pick you bunking buddy!"

"Risa, you're not sitting safe with Riku this time, I officially call you!" Riko pointed a finger at Risa, making her giggle.

"I'm cool with sharing with Sadie." Kairi rested an elbow on the other girl's shoulder.

Riku looked to Sumi. "Looks like you and I are bunking together."

"Good luck with that one." Risa coughed into her hand, though the cough itself sounded vaguely like the words "freak of nature" while its general direction aimed to Riku. Riku shoved her.

"Okay, now that's settled I say we-"

"Surprise!!" Each girl turned as Daisuke Niwa and two of the boy's vacation roommates peaked their heads into the door. The red-haired boy's smile grew ten full at the sight of Riku, and naturally Risa's sister, still pumped with sugar and giddy with delight, raced up to him and threw her arms around his neck, squealing with joy. Daisuke wrapped his arms around her and swung her around, laughing. As the two hadn't seen each other since Daisuke left 2 weeks ago, the rest of them said their cheery hello's after the they had had their moment. Daisuke, of course, very warmly welcomed Risa, and Hironobu, Daisuke's friend, moved to wrap both Nairi and Hiroko into a warm hug, as Riko was Hiro's younger sister and Nairi his close friend. When proper introductions had been made to those girls who did not know the guys, the 9 of them agreed to flock out together to find some lunch, as the boardwalk was within easy walking distance of their beach house. The house itself was not in Rehoboth, but a smaller beach right next to it called Bethany Beach. The house itself was located in the neighborhood called Bethany West, which was directly across the busy main road to the Bethany Beach boardwalk.

As the other 8 filed out the door, Sumi grabbing the 2 copies of the house key and tossing one to Riku (they were the two most responsible of the group), Risa paused by the mirror, hanging over a small table before the front door, somewhat appalled at the state of her hair. The rotten wind from the open windows of the van must have blown it all around…

"Risa, are you coming?!" Cried Riko from outside, then laughed when she realized she was in front of the mirror. "Come on, Risa, you looks amazing as usual, now come on, and lock the door behind you!"

Risa smiled and forced herself away from the mirror, grabbing her cell phone and racing out the door to meet her waiting friends.

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Satoshi Hiwatari sighed and stepped into the cool air conditioning of his rented condo overlooking the Bethany Beach boardwalk. He was quite ready to head straight for the kitchen for his usual lonely meal, but was stopped when he heard again what he had once found to be the sweetest sound ever to bless a human ear. It was laughter. _Her_ laughter. Now, though, it sounded more like an apparition floating in from the street to taunt him. Scowling, Satoshi strode over to the ledge and looked out. 

His scowl deepened.

Well, this was different.


	5. When in America

**A/N**: I'm SOSOSOSO sorry it took me so long, y'all, seriously, I never meant it to take that long. I DID, however, try to make it up to ya! That's right: not one, but TWO new chapters of Stay Beautiful! Enjoy!

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**..Chapter 4..**

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Hironobu threw up his hands and turned to face the curious group of 8 behind him. "I _swear_, this place was _dead empty_ last night!!"

Risa stood on tip-toe in attempts to see over the murmuring sea of heads lining the walk outside the acclaimed pizza parlor flooding the boardwalk-goers with loud music and bright neon lights. It was Saturday night; two entire days had passed since their arrival at Bethany Beach and America on Thursday afternoon. They had, as a group, decided to travel half an hour from Bethany to what was acclaimed at the must-hit party spot on the Delaware Seashore, Ocean City. The boardwalk itself was impressive: it was enormous and absolutely overflowing with places to go and things to see. However, they had arrived about an hour too late to get any kind of decent meal without a catastrophic wait. Beside her, Sumi sighed. "I s'ppose one night makes all the difference here."

"So now what?" Sadayo puffed, glancing around her.

"We could find another place to eat." Daisuke suggested, his arm around Riku.

"But the whole boardwalk is packed, basically every other place worth eating at has a posse like this one waiting to get in." Riko huffed, brushing dark hair from her face as the warm, salty sea breeze swept a strand in her eyes. "Give or take a drunkard or two."

"We could wait it out here." Nairi shrugged, shooting questioning looks at all of them.

Hiro snorted. "Are you biddy, it's Saturday night. It's not like those kids are going to _church_ tomorrow." Hiro motioned to the bar, where several clearly-19-year-olds (who obviously thought themselves very clever for their fake I.D.s that had gotten them admittance) were drinking what was obviously not their first shot of tequila. "We could be here all night."

"HEYYY!!!" The group turned (along with several other passers-by who heard the drunken call) to discover a shirtless partier hanging halfway off a condominium balcony two floors up, the beat-red shade of his face obvious even from their distance. His eyes rolled in his head as though of their own free will, and to Risa it was obvious the drunkard had managed to throw in several joints with his alcohol. He was not shy, however, despite behind publicly exposed and hammered. "HEYYYY!!" He shouted, mainly in their direction as therein lay a group of 6 girls not completely unfortunate in looks. "SHOW ME SOME TITTIES!!!"

"FUCK YOU!" Hiro bellowed in reply, his face flushed in fury. Sumi, her face flooded with color (though hers, rather, was the result of apall and embarassment), whirled in shock to him, using the full force of her turning motion to land a hard smack in Hiro's arm. Hiro had just enough time to flinch from this blow before Kaito, on his other side, pierced the boy's side with a sharp jab of his elbow. Hiro grimaced.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sumi hissed.

"Telling him off!" Hiro replied furiously. "I don't let assholes harass my friends and my sister." He motioned to the girls, who were currently very consciously and subtly adjusting their shirts so that their breasts were fully covered, all having turned a deep shade of crimson. Nairi's eyes were bulging as she clutched her arms around her collar. "Even American ones."

"Hiro, Americans can buy guns like girls can buy lipstick. Do you really want to provoke them?!" Kaito murmured as Sumi and several others nodded in agreement.

"Hey, all, in America you've got to be obnoxious and offensive right back at them: it's the only way to retain any kind of respect around here. Plus it's perfectly normal. Besides," He cocked a crooked smile at them. "I've always wanted to curse someone out in another language."

Sumi, Kaito, and Daisuke unanimously shoved him.

The drunken boy on the balcony was shortly thereafter pulled inside by a sober- and sheepish-looking- roommate.

By now most of the girls were, though still every bit as appalled, very much accustomed to the tendencies of their neighbors in the condos surrounding the boardwalks. They had explored Bethany that first night without finding much to do (or to see-- it was excellent afternoon strolling for its book shops and food stands), and in the same night had decided to drive over the bridge to the Rehobeth Beach boardwalk. There they were met with an eyeful of strangers who outwardly manifested their love for recreational drug use in the streets and from the privacy of their condos. It was plain to them from that first visit that their American neighbors were not shy about speaking what little was on their alcohol- and marijuana-influenced minds to a vulnerable public. Risa, of course, had been thrown completely off-guard, though Riko had numerous times warned them that this was typical behavior during Senior Week. Risa had developed an immunity to the sights as had the others, though it would have been impossible to completely shield herself against them in the short time she'd been there. They'd visited Rehoboth a second time, this time with the boys, that second night, and now they had moved to explore Ocean City.

"So do we wait or do we find somewhere else to eat?" Riku asked, looking to each of them in turn.

"All in favor of bailing on Grotto's Pizza and scouting for other options?" Called Hiro. Four of the nine raised their hands. Three of the four were the three guys of the group, who hadn't taken well to being present as the girls were being loudly harassed. Nairi, the shiest of the group, joined that vote. The others, however, found the drunken calls and wild air around them thrilling and exciting. They managed to make it to the counter where they politely asked the wait time for the restaurant.

"It'll be about an hour." The hostess told them, noting their number. "For how many?"

"Put us down for nine under the name Harada." Riku told her light-heartedly. As the hostess scratched in the name, Riku turned to the group. "Dai and I will stay here with the buzzer if you all want to wander around a bit. Just stick with someone who had a watch so you can be back here on time."

The group consented and broke off into smaller groups: Hironobu embraced Nairi under one arm, reassuring her she wouldn't be harassed by another pothead so long as he was with her, and motioned Sadie to follow. They headed off in the direction of the carnival rides. Kaito and Sumi, who had been risking glances at each other all night, typically found themselves with similar interest to check out the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum near the carnival. Riko, now, turned to Risa and, giving her a sly wink, motioned down the boardwalk in the other direction. Risa smiled and nodded, passing her own knowing look to her sister, who had settled on a bench outside the restaurant cozy beside her boyfriend. Riku stuck her tongue out at her as she passed.

"So what shall we do while we wait?" Voiced Riko thoughtfully, passing a boardwalk guitarist with an impressed look.

"We could check out the arcades." Risa suggested, knowing Riko could easily blow 20 U.S. dollars on arcade games. She only occasionally allowed herself to be sucked into the trance, though she did pride herself in being able to wipe the floor with her friend in the car race.

"Or we could get our belly buttons pierced." Riko said absently, her eyes on the neon signs of the tattoo parlor across the walk. Risa laughed.

"Funny, Riko."

Riko turned to her, her eyes lit up with excitement. "I will if you will!"

"Seriously, Riko, there's an enormous arcade right over there…" Risa giggled, but Riko stopped her with a hand on her arm. Risa eyes her suspiciously, then caught the look in her eye. "You _can't_ be serious."

Riko nodded violently. "I am."

"Riko are you out of your mind??"

"Pretty close, sister." She replied, her delight building.

"You _seriously_ want to get your belly button pierced?"

"Yes!!" Riko grinned, a look of wild inspiration making her eyes glitter. "I'm dead serious, Risa, let's get our belly-buttons pierced!!"

"Riko!"

"Hey, cats here do it all the time, right?"

"Riko…"

"What stopping us? We're 18, so it's legal by their laws, right?"

"Riko…!"

"We're adults, AND we're in a foreign country, out here in the big ol' world for the first time of our lives…"

"Riko, come on, _think_ about this!"

"I am, Risa!" Riko bounced up and down, beside herself. "Risa, we're out in a foreign country, we're young, we're bright, and we're totally unsupervised! We're only young once, so let's be young!"

"Being young can mean being stupid, Riko," Risa glanced between her and the tattoo parlor. "Especially when it involves some American stranger and a 4-inch needle."

"Then let's be young and stupid once!" Riko clasped her hands together and gave her the most sorry-looking pouty face Risa had ever encountered. "Please, Risa? Come on, be crazy for one moment of your life."

Risa sighed, still alternating between her friend and the parlor. "It won't be a moment."

"Ten minutes, then!" Riko exclaimed, exasperated. "Just for once in your life, Risa! Just do something unplanned and illogical!"

Risa took a long time glancing silently between the two, then lifted her soft white halter top to glance at her clean, undamaged, _unpierced_ belly button. She rolled her eyes. "Alright."

Riko practically launched into the air. "Really?!"

Risa extended her arm. "Drag me in there before I change my mind."

"You _won't_ be sorry, Risa!!" Riko took her hand and tugged her towards the shop.

Risa snorted. "Until I lose my ability to have children!"

* * *

"Top or bottom?" 

Risa turned to stare in bewilderment at the shopkeeper; a muscular man who could have opened a second string of piercing and tattoo parlors for all the tattoos and piercings he himself advertised. "What?"

"Top or bottom, lady?"

Risa glanced between him and her bare, alcohol-swabbed belly button. "Um…"

"Do you want the top or bottom pierced?" Riko clarified, her own belly button exposed and bearing its cotton-bandaged seal of success. "Do the bottom, all those risks you mentioned while we were waiting mostly go with piercing the top."

Risa nodded, slowly turning back to the shopkeeper. "Bottom." She managed, her legs feeling weak from terror. Why on earth was she doing this??

The man stooped to grab the needle, then eyed her, sprawled out and shaking, and his dark eyes flashed with sympathy. "You might want to close your eyes."

* * *

"I cannot believe I just did that." Risa shook her head as she exited the parlor, a bottle of cleaner in hand. Her midriff felt suddenly incredibly exposed, the shirt rolled out of the way of the bandage. She wished she didn't feel like she was now five times more likely to be harassed by a partier than she was before. 

Riko laughed beside her as they made their way across the boardwalk to the beach. "Believe it, Risa. You just got your belly button pierced."

Risa looked at her. "I just got my belly button pierced."

"You just got your belly button pierced."

Risa nodded, wide-eyed, then pointed at the bandage on Riko's own stomach. "So did you!"

"We both did."

"We both got our belly buttons pierced."

"That we did."

Risa stared at her in baffled amazement. The two stood like this for several moments, then Risa finally made it back to reality and glanced around her. "Now what?"

* * *

**A/N**: Haha, for the record, I really am trying to develop a character for each of these girls, and getting Risa to get her belly button pierced with her was something I really can envision Riko doing. Tell me what you think!! 

P.S. Oh, and I should mention-- I think there's somehow been some kind of confusion for readers. There ARE, in fact, TWO authors under the same account name, P.Fishies. We created the account to share, so both of us can post our fanfics for the world to see! Of course, it ended up that for a while, I didn't write anything at all, meanwhile my SISTER (Yes, we're sisters: TWIN sisters) wrote her stories such as College Days, Day by Day, Journey, Skin, and Overdone. _I_ got into it when I wrote MY very first oneshot on fanfiction, called "What Do I Want?". Since then I've written one more oneshot, "For Now" and am now, obviously, in the process of writing my first chapter story, "Stay Beautiful". So there's me, author of "Stay Beautiful", and then there's my sister, author of "Overdone" (and all those other amazing stories to which I could not compare lol). Got it?


	6. Of Jugglers and Blue Hair

**..Chapter Five..**

"So now what?" Risa voiced, glancing around her.

Riko checked her watch. "We still have 20 minutes."

"Until what?" Risa turned to her.

"Until the table's ready!"

"Oh, right." Risa shook her head to clear it. She had clean forgotten their original purpose for wandering onto the Ocean City boardwalk in the first place upon their entrance into the tattoo parlor. "Um… we could…" She glanced around her, but all creativity empowering her suggestions had failed before the great shock of the realization of what Risa had just done. "We could…"

"Stop the presses!!" Riko threw out an arm to stop Risa's mostly useless vocal train of thought. With a sly, ever-excited grin she pointed to spot on the boardwalk about 40 yards from where they stood on the beach. "Do you see what I see?"

Risa followed her finger. "Jugglers?"

"Not just _any _jugglers." Riko breathed in like her heart would any minute fly out of her chest. "Most likely the most delicious-looking jugglers I have had the divine sanctity ever to encounter!!"

"Riko!" The sight now registered and she found herself experiencing a similar rush of heat to her face and uncontrollable attraction for the boys' good looks. "Oh my goodness…"

"One side, Harada, I saw them first!" Riko took off in their direction, laughing as Risa bolted after her, racing her to the spot on the boardwalk where the bowling pins could be seen flying in their controlled, awe-inspiring manner.

"I am never going to wash this hand again." Riko breathed in a cloud of bliss, clutching her right hand to her chest.

"I pity what will happen to it in that time." Risa replied casually, glancing around her as she attempted to make up for her friend's total lack of orientation. Where in blazes was that restaurant?

"I don't care, I'll never ever wash it." Riko continued to cradle it. "Did you see him shake my hand?? It was so firm and he like cradled my hand in his…"

"Yes, Riko, I saw." Risa glanced down an adjoining alley as they passed on the boardwalk. Two night clubs and a repair shop. No restaurant.

"Never. I'm never going to wash this hand."

"That's nice, Riko." Risa continued to search their surroundings. It was in _one_ of these alleys, she just knew…

"My _god_ they were hot."

"Mhm."

"You remember how he threw the sticks between his legs and so that they toppled over his chin?"

"Mhm."

"_How_ bad did I want to be that stick?"

Risa whirled to her, slapping her arm hard. "Kokimi Hiroko-san!"

"**They were SOO HOT!!**"

Risa laughed, shoving her several feet over. "You're terrible!"

"Proudly so." Riko retorted, flashing her a brilliant smile. Then she looked around. "Where _are_we?"

Risa rolled her eyes and burst out laughing. "I've been _trying_ to figure that out throughout the duration of your babbling!"

"Oh, come on, Risa, TELL me you did not want to be that stick."

"**Riko**!"

"I wanted to hit that kid, though."

Risa cocked her head for a minute, then rolled her eyes and giggled as she remembered what she was talking about.

"I'm serious!" Riko angled towards her in her walk. "We were right there, you could have picked us for volunteers! It's not like we weren't the first ones with our hands up!"

"But instead their eye caught on the kid with the Harry Potter shirt and all hope was lost." Risa sadly narrated, placing a hand over her chest in mock solute.

"Damn you, Harry Potter Kid…!" Riko shook her fist at the sky.

"THERE!" Risa suddenly cried in exasperation. The pizza parlor was within sight, their friends seated in a visible spot by the window. Sumi, Nairi, Hiro, Kaito and Sadie had all beaten them back to meet up with her sister and Daisuke. "Everyone else is already there!"

"Huh?" Riko came out of her daze and spotted the parlor. "Oh!!"

"C'mon, last one there washes her hands!" Risa cried, taking off at a run as she wormed through the crowd. Riko shrieked and took after her.

It took a considerable amount of effort for Risa, who couldn't have weighed more than 105 American pounds, to try to push her way through a crowd of bustling, short-tempered American tourists. Lacking the kind of weight and muscle capacity to shove her way through (as she had been told many times one had to in America), she resorted to cunningly using her smaller size to slide through slots in the crowd of people through which larger-sized girls could not have passed. It wasn't long before she completely lost track of where Riko was behind her, and she ended up spinning around in search of her. She couldn't possibly have passed her already…

Suddenly it was like all time had dug in its heels in a screeching, rolling halt, as though such unbecoming circumstances had yanked away its momentum like the desperate pull of a rider hauling back on the reins of a runaway horse. Risa suddenly found herself unable to move, blinking several times to make sure she'd seen correctly. She couldn't _possibly_ have seen…

But there it was. It bobbled in minimal amount for the stride was smooth, controlled, and had a total air of confidence. She blinked again and again and still it was there: an utterly stupefying detonation of her past striking her when she was most unprepared to take it; the shock was enough to stop her completely in her tracks. Hair. Perfectly combed, striking, _sapphire blue_ hair.

But almost as soon as it had emerged from nowhere, therein had it disappeared, and even as Risa blinked away the bewilderment and searched in desperate panic to catch a glimpse again, it was nowhere to be seen.

Had she been mistaken? Seen the head of an innocent passerby and in her foolish, adolescent hope seen only the blue hair she knew? No, she had only just been able see the tips of the scalp, but she'd know that shade of beautiful blue anywhere; if it was hidden among an ocean of blue whose shades washed it away in precise equilibrium, she could pick it out. It was impossible to miss that blue…

Had she instead imagined the whole thing, that aching part of her still missing Satoshi Hiwatari with all the intensity of the day she'd told him goodbye, such that she'd regressed to seeing his head of sapphire-blue hair amongst a crowd of American strangers? Risa blinked slowly now, more deliberately, her racing heart slowly returning to a normal rhythm of throbbing. She continued to watch the spot from which that familiar set of hair had disappeared.

Was it, after all, to bright to imagine Satoshi had found her in America, somehow found out she was her and came from wherever he lived now to see her? Was it too naiive to hope that somehow, the two had finally run into each other once again, after 2 years not know where the other was, what they'd become…

Risa continued to blink questioningly, then jolted with the shock that she was still dead center in Ocean City's enormous boardwalk, the memory returning to her that she still needed to meet her friends for dinner. She looked around her and spotted the parlor quite nearby, Riko standing at the entrance and scanning the crowd for her, having easily beaten her there and found she was not very close in tow. Risa glanced back at the spot in the crowd where she was sure she had seen the neat, blue hair. Then she moved through the crowd to meet her friends. She'd ask Riku about it when they had time to themselves.

* * *

**A/N**: 'Kay so this part I got from personal experience- yes, when strolling the Ocean City boardwalk last summer my sister and I had an encounter with some VERY attractive jugglers who were trying to raise money to go to college. They asked for a volunteer at the one point and, of course, our raging hormones being what they are, we both raised our hands, but the decision was inevitably made upon the boy nearby who was wearing a Harry Potter shirt: a devestating loss, for it turned out that said volunteer was thereafter asked to stand in the middle of said two VERY attractive jugglers as said VERY attractive jugglers threw the bowling pins around him. Yes, needless to say, my sister and I were both very displeased. So is the story of the infamous Harry Potter Kid.

So was it worth the wait? Comments always welcome!!


	7. Back at Grotto's

**A/n:** Okay so it isn't much but I've been trying, okay? I know how this is going to end I just have to get it there, alright, I promise I'm still working on it, it's just taking me a while.

**.. Chapter Six ..**

"_There_ you are!" cried Riko as Risa reached the restaurant, out of breath. "What'd you do, run into a trash can?"

"_No_!" Risa replied defensively, grimacing at her friend as she burst into giggles.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time." Riko choked.

"No, it would be the second." Risa reminded her, straightening. "And just because it's happened _one_ time…"

"Sure, sure, keep telling yourself that, Risa." Riko's smug smile didn't fade.

"At least it wasn't wrapped in bright yellow caution tape."

"Touché." Riko rolled her eyes, still grinning. Then she swung open the door to the restaurant. "Can we eat already?"

Risa stuck her tongue out at her victoriously as she passed into the restaurant.

"So what _were_ you doing?" Riko persisted as they made their way towards their friends.

Once again the brilliant blue head appeared in her vision, slowly fasing away as it strode further and further, unaware it was being watched. Risa shrugged. "I… saw something."

Riko seemed to perk up. "Did it have a tan and a six-pack?"

"Risa rolled her eyes. She wasn't about to tell her what it really was- she might as well humor her. "And a tattoo on its neck." She replied, nodding.

Riko grinned. "Mmm…"

Risa slapped her arm.

"I would have stopped, too." Riko finally concluded. With that they moved to join their friends at the table.

"Where have you _been_?" Hironobu exclaimed as they waved their greetings and chose their respective seats: Risa on Riku's other side (Daisuke was on her left) and Riko on Risa's right, at the end of the table. Sumi, Kaito, Nairi, and Hiro lined the left side (in that order front to back) and Sadie, Daisuke, Riku, and Risa filled the opposite: now headed by Riko at the end.

"We just had a little- adventure." Riko answered her brother, winking at Risa.

"_Adventure_?" Kaito leaned around Sumi to raise his eyebrows at Riko. "Do I _want_ to know?"

Riko giggled, glancing at Risa in delight. "Should we tell them?"

Risa blinked at her. "Tell them what?"

"About the _rings_!" She hissed through the side of her mouth, motioning her head towards Risa's midriff.

"_Oh_!" She had completely forgotten her outrageous act upon seeing the blue hair in the crowd. "Yes!"

Everyone at the table exchanged curious looks as Riko cleared her throat. "We-" Another glance at Risa and a fresh bout of giggles. "-got our belly buttons pierced!"

Everyone at the table stared. For a moment, all that filled the table was the sound of music, chatter. And clanking dishware.

"Bullshit." said Hiro in English. Nairi slapped his arm. "You don't even know what I said!" cried Hiro indignantly.

"I don't need to." she replied. "All you _know_ is curse words." Hiro could not rebut.

"Your _belly buttons_?" Sadie repeated, dumbstruck.

"_Pierced_?" gaped Sumi, glancing at Kaito as if he might verify some shred of likelihood they were telling the truth. Kaito shook his head.

"_Both_ of you?" Hiro asked, pointing at them both. They both, in return, nodded.

"_Risa_?" Daisuke fixed her with a look of disbelief. "Risa wouldn't last a minute in an American tattoo parlor." His thoughts were echoed throughout the table.

"Is that how they do it, then?" Nairi leaned in to Hiro to ask him. "They go to the same place where they would get a tattoo?" Hiro nodded.

"I did too last more than a minute!" Interjected Risa. "For that matter it must have been near _ten_ minutes…"

"Should we show them?" Riko asked Risa, sounding excited. Risa nodded. The two stood up and simultaneously lifted their shirts to reveal their navels; both protected by large, 3" x 3" band-aids. Every jaw at the table dropped.

"Well I'll be…" voiced Kaito.

"You really did get them pierced!" Riku looked up at Risa, who blushed.

"Yep."

"Wow." whispered Sumi.

"That's- uh-" Daisuke rubbed the back of his neck.

"Different." Finished Riku, still in shock.

"_**Different**_?" Hiro looked to be in awe. "That's fu-" Nairi pinched his arm at his sudden outburst of predictable English. Hiro corrected himself. "That's _awesome_!"

"_Awesome_?" Daisuke turned to him.

"We're young and beautiful, Dai!" Hiro exclaimed, leaning back into his chair. "You gotta take risks while your body can still afford it!"

"That's what I thought!" said Riko proudly.

The table gaped. Then, one by one, they broke into smiled. "You two are plum crazy." Kaito shook his head. The rest of the table echoed his thought, but with humor. Their general consensus was that it was whatever Riko and Risa wanted, not really their place to judge.

"Grubs up, all!" Hiro suddenly shouted as he spotted their waitress heading their way with their order.

"You ordered already?" Riko turned to Hiro. "What'd you do, use a code of curse words?"

"For your information, little sis, there happens to be a lovely Korean girl working here who speaks Japanese fluently." Hiro replied with dignity. With that they cleared room at the table for the pizza to be set down.

"Riko talked you into that belly button ring, didn't she?" Riku leaned in to murmur to Risa as the rest of the table turned their attention to their food. Risa blushed and nodded, though couldn't stop the smile. Her sister mirrored it, then her expression grew serious. "What else happened out there?"

Her twin could read her like a book. Risa should have figured Riku would see she had something to talk about before Risa could mention it. "I'll tell you later, okay?"

Riku nodded, satisfied with the promise of finding out at some point.

"Hey, you two," came Hiro's voice between bites. "We're going to eat the whole thing if you don't grab your grub now! So get it while it's still here!"

* * *

**A/N**: Okay so there was some confusion as to where this motley crew is actually staying. There's a line of beaches in Delaware consisting of the following, in order from North to South: Rehobeth Beach, Dewey Beach, Bethany Beach, and Ocean City. They are _staying_ in Bethany Beach, but each beach is in such close proximity they're wandering between the three (Rehobeth, Bethany, and Ocean City) each night of their stay. they mention having been to Rehobeth and Bethany before hitting Ocean City this particular night. Does that clear things up?


	8. Disbelief

**A/N**: Okay sooo yeah I've had writer's block on this thing for QUITE some time-- as many of you noticed, and I was really actually about to let it drop but apparently you all really want to know what happens :-\ SO I tried my best here and I've got a couple ideas on how to wrap this sucker up but bear with me- really really sorry it's been so long. I hope this helps a bit at least lol. Reviews welcome!

* * *

**..Chapter Seven..**

"You're absolutely sure it was him?" Riku scowled at her as Risa paced the length of the beach house living room, unable to sit still. Riku seemed to be having a more difficult time grasping the idea of Satoshi Hiwatari being there than Risa herself was. Risa stopped in her tracks at her sister's question and eyed the other girl.

"Who the hell else has _blue_ _hair_, Riku?"

"But_ come on_." Riku threw out her hands. "He left you stranded in an airport what- two years ago? What are the odds he'd end up here, at the same time as you? There's no college around here or any major corporations or whatever. What on earth would he be doing here?"

"I don't know." Risa continued to pace.

"And what was he doing on a _boardwalk_? A place of social interaction, PDA, illegal underage alcohol consumption, amongst other things? A boardwalk is a place of _recreation_- essentially _fun_. Satoshi Hiwatari does not _do_ _fun_."

"I don't know what he was doing there, Riku!" Risa growled throwing out her hands in exasperation. "All I know is that it _had_ to be him." She collapsed into a chair and buried her face in her hands. After a moment she peaked through the fingers. "You know I of all people should recognize him in an instant."

Riku snorted, nodding. "Oh, yeah. Trust me, I know."

"And it's not like I was all that far away from him, either, so it wasn't a trick of the light or something." She let her fingers slide back into her hairline, shaking her head miserably.

Moments passed without a sound, then Riku sighed and shook her head at her. "You never got around to getting over him, did you?"

Risa looked up in surprise. "What?"

"Oh, please, Risa, it's not as if it wasn't obvious."

Risa's stomach twitched in fear, her face begin to flush red from embarrassment. Did she know something Risa didn't? What was she talking about? "What are you talking about? What's obvious?"

Riku shook her head at her. "Come on, Risa, I'm your twin sister. Maybe you managed to fool everyone else, but I'm your twin. I'm omniscient when it comes to you."

"_What_?" Risa insisted, aggravated now that her sister was so intently trudging in circles.

Riku's gaze was solid and knowing. "You were in love with Satoshi." Risa's entire system slowed by meters to the second, slipping into a sinking hole of realization that hadn't ever occurred to her before. She'd never told Riku. Of course she wouldn't; not only would her sister find it strange and unhealthy but she wouldn't come close to understanding the feeling of longing for someone she could never have, not since she'd had Daisuke. Riku sighed, shifting in her seat to perch lightly atop her folded leg. "I figured you wouldn't want me to know so I never said anything. But it was obvious every time he walked by you, every time you'd say his name, whenever you'd even mention an assignment for that Trigonometry class you had together. Your tone of voice said everything even if I could see it in your eyes." At her sister's deflated posture, Riku cocked her head at her. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

Risa nodded her head miserably. Riku bit her lip but went on. "Well I did. Right up to the day you came home from saying good-bye to him at the airport. I also know that there's a part of you that has been lost ever since that day." Risa ground her teeth and when that didn't ease the sick feeling in her stomach she grabbed hold of her thumbnail in her front two incisors. Riku threw out her hands. "That boy trampled the heart that you left on your sleeve for him and left you stranded in the middle of an International Airport without promise to even contact you ever again, all for the sake of coming here to whatever great purpose this country holds for him." She gave Risa a look that asked her what she was supposed to think. Risa had nothing to offer her. Riku shrugged. "Well now you know why I have such a hard time believing he's actually here anyway."

"Trust me, Riku." Risa let her hand fall to her lap and glanced to her left, out the window. "Me, too."

The moments stretched again, neither of them able to come up with what to say, or something that would be _appropriate_ to say. Finally Riku sighed again. "You're still stuck on him even though it's been two years. And you really think he's here, at Bethany Beach?"

Risa nodded. "It _had_ to be him."

Riku paused, then, still shaking her head, rose and stretched out a hand to Risa, resolving that they should go to bed. Risa accepted the hand and they walked down the hall to their respective rooms.

"Just try not to dream about him, okay?" Riku added teasingly as she moved away towards her own room.

Risa tried to hide the look that gave away the fact that she knew she would. "I'll try."

* * *

He'd seen her out the window. 

He'd tried to avoid her.

He hadn't expected that she'd find him anyway.

Satoshi twisted the hot water on in his apartment and stuffed the plug into the drain, furious. He shouldn't have gone out. He shouldn't have met those people in Ocean City. The ones trying to sell him a flat atop one of their arcades. He knew he needed a bigger place, but he'd also known from the beginning he'd say no to any place in Ocean City. That place was crawling with the most disgusting of America's drinking and smoking youth who liked too much to party hard on weekends and weekdays alike. He would never choose to live there. But he'd told himself it was worth looking at, that maybe they had a place that was quiet and secluded, away from the noise of the boardwalk.

When he'd found out that he'd have to actually _walk_ the boardwalk to get to it, he was ready to say no as it was.

But he'd told the man he'd look at it, if for no other reason than to rent it out to ready, rich American teenagers looking for a place of advantage for their Senior Week vacation. He could have easily whisked out his cell phone, called the guy, and told him to forget it. But no. He had to be reasonable. And because he was, she'd caught sight of him.

He knew she'd seen him. Because he saw her. He had never forgotten even the slightest detail, even after two years of being separated by continent and ocean her face was as fresh as the lazy beach's daylight, and when he'd seen it in the crowd his heart had erupted in a blaze of colors from within his chest with such a veracity that it made him sick. The terror and dread hit him, and he turned to walk the other direction. But there was no doubt. Though he didn't know how much of him she'd seen, she'd seen him. Because while all he'd ever wanted to do was blend in, he somehow always stood out from the crowd.

Now what was he to do?

She knew he was in Delaware, in that stretch of beaches nearby even if she didn't know which specific one. What would be her reaction? Would she be happy to see him, after he'd left her in that airport without a word of good-bye? The conversation replayed in his head constantly at varied periods throughout the day, and at night he'd dream he was still back there, staring at the girl that was his world for what he'd believed would to be the last time, knowing that if it took all his strength, he'd have to find a life without her. It replayed and replayed like a broken VCR over and over again… torturing him with her image until he was sure he'd go crazy. The first few nights at the University of Maryland had been absolute agony; he'd wake up in the middle of the night reaching out for her, expecting to see her still there, laughing at him. He'd thought that after a couple years he'd finally forget her and move on. Well, he'd moved a bit, anyway. He just never got around to completely forgetting her.

He'd forced away the sorrow, the melancholy, built a wall between him and the world and beneath him built a tower of success in the eyes of law enforcement both local and statewide. But while his reputation grew he was stuck being the eyes of Delaware law along the Bethany Beach, overseeing the mounted police as well as the patrols on the streets. He was stuck where she could see him, and he her.

He'd almost moved on. He'd almost forgotten. He'd been close, he knew it. It had been months since he'd dreamed about her, he realized, and she'd come up less and less in his mind's eye throughout his daily conversations. As of that month he hadn't been thinking of her at all. Everything hadn't seemed as though it were conspiring to remind him of her, and he'd just about convinced himself that he would and could live a life without her.

Then he'd seen her out the window of his apartment.

Had she moved on since that day? Had she even been affected at all? Did she go home, shrug to herself, then move on to meet some other guy, someone who could take care of her? Had she forgotten him, when he'd been so unable to forget her? Satoshi leaned against the rail of the bathtub, feeling the steam on his face and running a hand through his hair. He shut his eyes tight. Why did her image continue to eat his insides?

_Enough_. He scolded himself. _She's been gone for two years. She's not a part of you anymore. She'll leave eventually, and then you'll move on again. Without her. Just like before._

Satoshi slipped off his worn black t-shirt and turned off the hot water, folding his glasses and leaving them on the counter. It was true. She must have been there on vacation; she was just the kind of person who would. She'd stay for a week, maybe two, then she'd be back on her way to Japan, eight thousand miles away. And he would be alone again. Just like he would be forever more, for the rest of his life.

Just like before.


	9. Identity Confirmed

**A/N**: Yep, that's right, try not to get overwhelmed but I am posting for you today not one, not _two_, but THREE chapters of Stay Beautiful (can you tell I'm trying to make up for my writer's block?)! Lol I hope you enjoy them, please feel free to review even if it's just yelling at me for taking so long to write such a crappy part lol).

Oh, and I do realize that I have been switching between calling the one character "Kairi" and "Nairi". I'm just letting you know it's actually "Kairi"- at least thats what it was when i first found it on so that's the one I'm using. It's still the same character I've just been confused on the name. Sorry if that discombobulated anyone!

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**Chapter Eight**

"Hey, has anyone seen Kairi?" Risa looked up from her book at her sister's entrance to the living room, frowning at her question.

"No, come to think of it." Risa voiced, glancing over to Riko, who had the TV turned to a movie while she reclined on the floor. Riko shrugged, shaking her head.

"She headed out to lunch with Hiro." Replied Sumi lazily, her attention on her trivia game with Sadayo. Risa shot Riku a look, and they both exchanged a smile.

"Before long those two will have you and Dai struggling in the running for class couple." Sadie teased Riku, wiggling her socked feet against the foot of the sofa. Sumi licked her lips and moved her piece five spaces, shooting a mock-challenging glance at Sadie.

"I'm in nature. Hit me."

Sadie reached for the deck of trivia cards. "The only animal with four knees." She read, flipping it over to look for the answer on the other side.

Sumi's face darkened. "You've got to be kidding me."

Sadie giggled. "Nope, that's what it says."

Sumi glanced at Risa, who was back in her book. "Risa, help me out here."

Risa looked up, distracted by the sugar-coated romance of her book. "Huh?"

"The only animal with four knees."

Risa snorted. "How should I know?"

"Oh come on, I'm dying here!"

"Just because I took biology doesn't mean I know trivia any better than you, Sumi." Risa laughed.

"Yes it does, now what's the answer?!" Risa laughed again and returned to her book. Sumi growled. "Riku, you've got to know this one!"

"I'm drawing a blank, Sums." Riku replied, in the kitchen, now, and reaching for a cookie. "I didn't think anything had four knees."

Sumi snorted and Sadie raised her eyebrows. "Give up?"

Sumi stuck out her tongue. "Don't sound so smug."

Sadie giggled. "Sorry." She made her voice deeper to sound more like Kaito's. "Is this how Kaito would say it?"

Sumi's face grew appalled as the rest of them burst out laughing. "That's pretty good, actually!" Cried Riku from the kitchen. "Who was that?"

Sadie grinned and waved at her from across the breakfast bar. "Me!"

"You could be an impressionist!"

"Okay, okay, enough, I give, I give!" Cried Sumi, her face flushed bright red with embarrassment. "What is it?"

Sadie laughed and told her the answer.

"An_ elephant_?" Sumi glanced at Risa, who had looked up in time to hear both the impression of Sumi's crush and the answer to her question. "Who'd have come up with that?!"

"It_ does_ have four knees." said Riku admittedly, coming in to join the group with three Milano cookies on a napkin.

"Is it really the only animal that does?" Asked Riko curiously, joining the conversation now.

Sadie nodded. "That's what it says."

"I give up." Sumi huffed in submission. "I suck at this game."

"Who doesn't?" Riko dismissed, shrugging.

"_Sadie_'s gotten every question so far!" Sumi exclaimed, motioning to the other girl outrageously. Sadie gave an innocent little smile.

"That because she actually pays attention in school." Riku stuck her tongue out at her. "Nerd."

"Proud to be one." Sadie shot her a wink, moving to put the game away. "But that's not why I won. My dad and I used to play this game all the time."

"Well, anyway," Riko switched off the TV, looking bored. "Anyone have any ideas for what to do with ourselves for the afternoon?"

Riku glanced at Risa, frowning. "I thought we were going jet skiing today."

Risa shrugged, glancing at Sumi. "You're the coordinator."

"I thought it was a laze day." Sumi scowled. "Do you _want_ to go jet skiing?"

"I'm game for that." Chimed Riko. "I could bury little miss Risa in my mist."

Risa closed her book, shooting her friend a challenging look. "Oh, I don't think so." She glanced at Sumi. "I'm totally in."

"I've only ever done it once." Sadie shook her head, smiling at herself. "Someone else will have to drive because I nearly crashed the thing."

Sumi looked to Riku. "You in, Riku?"

She nodded. "Definitely."

"Hey, you guys!!" Suddenly the screen front door swung wide open and in stepped Kairi, hand-in-hand with Hiro, who trailed behind her. Risa tried not to burst out in giggles at the sight of them holding hands. It was obvious they hadn't noticed.

"Hey, there's the missing girl!" Cried Riko, getting up from the floor. The rest of them rose with her.

"Where have you been all morning?" Riku asked, looking curious.

"At lunch." She said hurriedly, brushing it aside. "Anyway, you guys won't believe this! We were walking the boardwalk today and I _swear_, out of nowhere, we see this guy with blue hair sitting on one of the benches!"

Riko rolled her eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, Kairi, we're in America." She replied jokingly. "Everyone here dies their hair."

"No, this was a Japanese guy!" Kairi looked flustered; whether it was from her hurry to be home and tell them this or due to some other reason Risa did not know. "I swear he used to go to our school. What was his name?" She turned to Hiro, unsure.

"Satoshi Hiwatari." Hiro nodded. "I saw him, too. It had to be him."

Risa's stomach plummeted and she glanced at Riku, who had a knowing expression on her face. The rest, however, were a step behind them, in shock and astonishment.

"No way!" Sadie exchanged shocked glances with Sumi.

"Didn't he basically drop off the face of the planet?" Sumi turned to Riko.

"Yeah, that was like two years ago." Riko was shaking her head at Kairi. "You're sure it was him."

"A guy doesn't forget a guy with blue hair." Hironobu looked equally as disbelieving. "Even if he could it wouldn't be a guy like Hiwatari. That guy was _way_ too mechanical to be forgotten."

"_Man_!" Riko turned back to Sumi. "Satoshi Hiwatari, the heartbreak of our high school, _here_."

"In America." Added Sadie.

"At the _beach_." Inserted Sumi.

"But what's he _doing_ here?" Riko returned her gaze to Kairi, who hadn't let go of Hiro's hand.

Kairi shrugged. "We don't know. We didn't talk to him."

"Not that he would have if we tried." Hiro rolled his eyes. "He didn't even talk to us when we were in the same school, let alone continent."

"Not to mention he probably had no intention of ever seeing any of us again." Sumi nodded, scowling now.

"Yeah." Riko voiced, now shifting her gaze to Risa. Risa froze up, feeling pressured. She couldn't know, could she? That Risa had already seen him that night, when they were at Ocean City? That was two days ago now. Now he was suddenly in Bethany. "He sure did leave Japan in a hurry, didn't he?" Risa, taking the question to be aimed for her, shrugged and nodded.

The silence settled for a short pause, during which time Hiro and Kairi must have realized that they'd taken each other's hands, as they now let them gently fall back to their own respective sides, blushing a bit. Riku finally stood up, stretching. "Oh well. Still up for jet skiing?" Riku glanced around and at once the girls returned to being noisy and rambunctious. They consented to drop by the boys' house in Riko's van to pick up Daisuke and Kaito before heading down the highway to the jet ski rental business about 20 minutes from the beach. They all hurriedly changed into bikinis (pulling their clothes on over top) and hurried out the door, giggling and racing each other. Riku stopped Risa before she could push out the screen door as well.

"You alright, sis?" She murmured as the rest of the girls clambered into the car, fighting each other for the front seat.

Risa nodded, trying to hide exactly how much Kairi's discovery had affected her. "I'm fine." She followed her sister down the steps and into the van.

At least they hadn't speculated the matter any further than they did.


	10. That Afternoon

**A/N**: Yeah, sorry it's not that long, but I thought it was important enough to be its own little chapter. Again, reviews welcome!

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**Chapter Nine**

The jet ski rental was all too happy to oblige them each with respective vehicles, and after they had shown them ID's (to verify each of them were at least 16 and thus old enough to drive them) and paid for their time slot, they were each helped onto a floating vehicle and walked out to the area where they could start their engines and move out into the bay. Riko got her own vehicle while the rest split into pairs, as it would mean spending less on the rental fees in renting less machines. Sadie got on behind Risa, too intimidated and afraid she would crash to want to drive it. Riku, of course, shared with Daisuke (who, after much passive debate between the two of them, finally gave in and let Riku give him driver's seat first- he was the only person she'd ever insist upon coming before her in anything). They all had to stifle smiles when Hiro yanked Kairi onto his, while she looked terrified and at the same time absolutely flustered as she wrapped her arms around his middle. Finally, Sumi convinced Kaito onto the back of hers, him insisting it was only if she drove and her telling him that it'd be his turn out there. With that the nine of them plugged along the straightway into the buoy-marked skiing area and pinned their gas pedals to the handlebars.

Risa spent much of the time terrifying Sadie with her speed as she chased and raced Riko around. Sadie eventually relaxed into it and even started cheering Risa on as they sped and gliding from buoy to buoy, splashing through the expanse of the area in record time. Riku came in at one point, Dai behind her, and flipped her ski to the side to sent a wave of cool bay water at Risa. Splattered and laughing in surprise, Risa floored her jet ski after the quickly-departing Riku, behind whom was her boyfriend making faces at them. Hiro and Kairi joined their races, too, but spent about an equal time chasing a bunch of seagulls who were obviously lost and had decided to float on the surface of the water. Sumi and Kaito were never real challengers in their chasing games but kept up pretty well, Sumi not quite willing to unleash the full horsepower of her equally-matched jet ski. After half an hour the couples switched drivers, with the exception of Risa and Sumi, whose partners hotly refused to take the handlebars.

Soon they were off again, Risa now chasing Daisuke as Riku jeered at them joking from the back of the ski. Kaito turned out to be a rather deft driver despite his assertions to Sumi not to let him drive, as he kept up with them better than Sumi had. She, of course, merely used this as an excuse to give him a hard time, which he took gamely, smiling. Riko was equally as challenging as Daisuke, often passing both Risa and his as they attempted to catch each other. Kairi screamed the first time she pushed the gas pedal, looking both terrified and thrilled as it accelerated. For about the next 10 times she hit the gas she let out a very audible squeal, but soon enough Hiro had her racing around the buoyed lot with a huge smile on her wind-beaten face. By the time their hour was up, every last one of them was breathless with laughter and tussled by the wind.

As the officials back by the shore started to motion them in, Risa let her laughter slowly fade to a huge grin as she eased off the gas pedal, aiming her nose at the straightway back to shore.

"Not too bad, Harada." Riko called over from her jet ski. "You actually managed to keep up!"

Risa stuck out her tongue at her, laughing with her and flashing her a wink. It was then she looked up, as if some uncontrollable urge controlled her, directed her eyes to the little lunch café that stood a story above the rental place, over a dinner restaurant and overlooking the bay where they just rode. In the huge, open window of the café she could make out a boy, gazing down at her from behind the thick rims of huge, black glasses, the afternoon sun catching on his sapphire-blue hair. It was then, at that moment that her entire body froze and her stomach pitched inside-out, that she knew it was true. Satoshi Hiwatari was at Bethany Beach, and that was him. Up there in that little lunch place watching her.

But just as soon as she'd caught sight of him, in a blink he had disappeared.

"What's up, Risa?" Sadie asked from behind her, leaning around her to look into her face. "You're up."

Risa blinked a bit and turned back to the straightway, where the officials were motioning her in after her sister and Daisuke. "Yeah," Risa replied, shaking her head as the surprise slowly eased into a gaping emptiness. "Just thought I saw something, that's all."


	11. What's Eating Risa Harada

**A/N**: Okay I don't think I can say sorry enough because I know you guys BEGGED for more and I had no idea how to oblige!! Honestly if ANYONE is left to read this I am eternally in awer of you lol because I took a REEEALLLYYY long time figuring out what to do with this darn thing and now I think I finally know so I hope you like it-- I think I'm only going to have like three more chapters (give or take), and I tried to make this one long since you all have been waiting. Sorry again!!

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**Chapter Ten **

She had tried. She had truly fought with every ounce of stubborn, offensive power she possessed to convince her friends not to eat here. She wasn't in the mood for sandwiches; she was tired and just wanted to eat at the house; if they really wanted to go out there was a popular seafood place down the road; besides, it was probably expensive here anyway.

But no. Her legendary skill in the art of subtleties was eminently defeated by the overwhelming group craving for cheap hush puppies.

Now she was stuck here, sitting by the window of that lunch café by the water ski rental, knowing that not twenty minutes ago Satoshi Hiwatari could have been sitting in the exact same spot, staring out over the bay as he idly ate his lunch. On second thought perhaps he was a bit to her left; she had seen him sitting a bit further away from the corner than they seemed now. And he probably hadn't been eating lunch here; he might have intended to but had taken one look at the menu and, with a twisted scowl, closed it and ordered an iced tea, meanwhile staying an identical duration to that which he would have had he ordered a dish, spending that time staring out at the water at all the jet skiers in there childish games. Then, of course, he'd decided that his outing was over at a conveniently-placed instant only a second before she'd caught sight of him, and as he paid off the check and rose to leave she'd seen him and he'd been gone within the next heartbeat…

Do you see why she'd begged her friends not to come here??

What was up with his exit, anyway? Did he really that coincidentally decide that at the moment right after she'd seen him he'd take off? Or had he in fact seen her coming in from the bay and with haste paid off his tab and hustled away? Or maybe he'd been watching her the whole time? Maybe he'd caught sight of her as she moved to ride out, and as she dashed about the buoyed ring he'd been a sideline spectator, sipping his iced tea and thinking to himself why on earth he'd ever bothered to associated with her in the first place?

Oh, for the love of…

Risa abruptly rose from the table. "I'll be right back, guys, I need to use the bathroom."

Her friends echoed "okays" dismissively and continued their rowdy conversation, recounting with great enthusiasm their antics on the water. Risa hustled away, unsure where exactly the bathroom was but knowing she couldn't stay here much longer or she might find herself screaming at Satoshi in anger as all her friends stared at her.

Yes, she'd prefer a public restroom over that image any day.

* * *

"So... has anyone noticed how kind of off Risa has been lately?" Riko voiced idly back on the floor of the girls' beach house. Five of the six girls had settled on the carpet to try their hand at a card game called Apples to Apples: a souvenir and time-passer Sumi had picked up on the boardwalk. It was something involving a green card, on which was written an adjective (ex. fluffy, awesome, spicy...) and entering a noun, written on a red card, that supposedly best fit the adjective on the green card. It was Sumi's turn to judge the red card candidates, and already the other four had dropped their entrants into the center of the circle for her to pick up. She was just about to read the entrants when Riko had spoken.

Everyone looked up from their cards, frowning. "I hadn't but now that you mention it she has been a little funny about certain things." Sadayo answered thoughtfully. Risa herself was outside on the screen porch reading.

"I noticed it, too." Kairi nodded. "I'm not too good at figuring out exactly what it is but I can tell she's off."

"She just isn't... well herself." Riko articulated. "I mean she's still silly little Risa Harada but there are moments where it's like she's not here at all."

"Yeah, her mind just kind of goes places sometimes." Sumi agreed.

"And she acts all funny when you ask her what's wrong." said Sadie, thinking of the previous afternoon after water skiing.

"Anyone know what's up?" Riko questioned, glancing around. Everyone shook their head, a few shrugging. Riku, who had been silent the entire time, kept her eyes on her cards.

"She can't be sick; she'd have that awful stuffy nose she always gets and sound like a weasel." continued Sumi.

"Well no, and she wouldn't be thinking hardly at all, see that's the thing." Riko pointed out. "She's the kind of girl who keeps her mind in the present almost all the time, that's why she seems so empty-headed when you first meet her but it's really just her way of seeing things."

"And she's always been a great listener." Kairi added.

"Do you think something awful happened?" Sadie asked, looking worried. "Something at home maybe?"

"Has she been on the phone a lot?" asked Riko.

There was a small pause, but Sumi started shaking her head. "No I haven't seen her on that thing hardly at all."

"Not unless she's talking to one of us." nodded Sadie.

"So what's going on?" Riko bit her lip, frustrated. "Risa's a really open person, she doesn't often try to hide things from her friends. I wonder why she feels like she has to hide?"

"Maybe it's something she's never told us?" Sumi voiced. "And whatever it is has somehow come back to bite her?"

"But what would it be that we wouldn't understand?" said Kairi.

Everyone shrugged. After a moment in which they all sat thinking, Sadie spoke. "Should we talk to her about it? Or pretend like we don't know?"

There was another pause. Riko was the one to resolve it. "Risa's a smart girl. If she needs one of us she'll tell someone. We'll leave her alone for now, but if it gets any worse, I'll talk to her."

And with that Sumi picked up the cards and the game continued.

* * *

"He was at the harbor." Risa suddenly mentioned as Riku helped her braid her hair that night. Risa had not caught on to the shifted awareness of her somewhat solemn mood swings, for when she had slipped back inside from the patio, the conversation had been about whether "Oranges" or "Will Smith" should win for the adjective "comfortable". Now, though, the rest of the girls were crowding into either the bathroom or Sadie's and Kairi's room in order to use the mirror, as they were in the process of preparing for another night on the boardwalk.

"Hiwatari-san, you mean?" Riku replied, though she knew not only that this was what she meant, but she'd known this to be the issue since the previous evening. She'd seen the look on her sister's face when she met everyone on shore; it was the same with which she had come home from the airport that day two years ago. Confused; abandoned; and scared to show it.

Risa nodded, though subtly, as Riku still had her braid in her hands. "He was at that restaurant we went to after jet skiing. Only he left as soon as I'd caught sight of him."

Riku nodded. Of course she'd argued against going there for lunch. She must have been thinking about that blue-haired boy the entire time.

"I think he knows I'm here." Risa continued, her voice sounding flat. "I think he saw me before and is avoiding me now."

This, to Riku, sounded not only plausible, but entirely probable. "Any idea why he would be? You'd think after two years he'd want to at least say hi to one of the only people he might consider his friend." She banded the end of the braid and began to wrap her mousy brown hair around itself behind her head.

"I've been asking myself the same thing over and over." Risa replied, deep in thought. "I guess he doesn't want to connect to his past."

"Was it really that painful?" Riku frowned.

Risa sighed. "You have no idea."

There was a pause in which Riku continued to perfect her sister's bun. She then reached for her chopsticks, echoing Risa's sigh. "They're worried about you, you know. The girls. We were talking about it while we played that card game."

Risa groaned. "I'm not a very good liar, am I?"

Riku chuckled. "Not really." She finished the bun at last and moved in front of her twin, looking her in the eye. "Why haven't you told them?"

Risa bit her lip, unable to answer for a minute. "It's not because I don't trust them. I know they won't go around talking about it even once we're back home. But..." Riku waited. Risa glanced around the room uncertainly, gathering her thoughts. "I guess what I'm more afraid of is that they'll judge me."

"Judge you? You mean make fun of you because you like Hiwatari?"

Risa shrugged. "Maybe not but you know they might not approve of this kind of thing. They'll think I'm like one of his fan girls or that it's not healthy to like someone who has no emotion."

"The guy is pretty solid." Riku admitted.

"See, that's the thing, though. I know him better than anyone here and he's not unfeeling. He's got the same emotions as you and I he's just..." She stopped, ducking her head and murmuring the last part. "He's scared. He's just as scared as I am."

Riku waited for her to continue, but when she didn't, she searched her face. "Scared of what, Risa?"

Risa looked up. "Of other people. Of how they'll perceive him. People always say it doesn't matter what other people think but it does. Especially for a teenager. What happens if you let yourself become close to someone, and suddenly they find out something that changes the way they perceive you entirely? Even if it's not a bad thing at all? What happens if you lose their friendship over that? Shouldn't it matter what your friends think of you?" She dropped her eyes again, watching her twiddling hands. "That's why he doesn't want friends. He's got too much to worry about anyway. No one else wants that kind of baggage. He doesn't want other people to judge him because his own life is screwed up."

Riku was silent, dumbfounded by the awe of what her sister had kept hidden so long. Risa went on. "What he doesn't understand, though... what he doesn't see is that he's exactly the kind of friend everybody wants." Her voice began to quiver. "He's strong and he's quiet, so he'll listen to you no matter how much you rant and rant about the same thing over and over and over again. He's so smart, so he'll know what to tell you and exactly how to tell it to you. He won't tell you much, but it's like what he does say is all you need to hear, and the rest you just figure out all on your own, and then you feel like you're smart, too, all because he just said that one little thing and..." She took a deep breath in, and when she did it was jagged and labored with emotion. "He really is beautiful in every way."

Struck to silence, Riku reached to brush a tear from her sister's cheek. No wonder. No wonder she'd been so distant. Her friends had been right to worry. Satoshi Hiwatari had broken her heart harder than Riku had initially predicted.

After several moments in which Risa could compose herself, Riku shook her head, staring into her best friend's sweet eyes. "What are you going to do if he's at the boardwalk tonight?

She took a long time to answer, then she finally, merely, shrugged. "I guess... I'll just have to ignore him."

"Risa! Riku! You two ready to go?"

"We're coming, Riko!" Riku replied towards the doorway, then turned back to her sister to see she'd risen and slipped into her sandals. Riku offered her a small smile and extended her hand. "Let's go, sis."

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**A/N:** Alright I don't expect that to satisfy so I'm going to do my absolute best to finish this thing up, okay? Comments welcome!!

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